Graduation can be really hectic, and there are a lot of things that need to get done, but which are easy to forget. Here's a timeline and checklist to get through it.


Well ahead of time:

A week ahead:

Before graduation:

Graduation

Before hack tips, we traditionally emphasize that they're just for fun and totally optional. Here's a sample speech: "Next we have the hack tips, starting with one for the club run by the class, followed by one for the class run by the club. These are optional – all are welcome to participate, but graduation is in no way conditional on participating. Dance if you'd like, or just watch if you'd prefer. With that, <person> will introduce the class's hack tip." (We intentionally talk about optionality, but not hazing – hack tips are not actually very particularly hazing adjacent, and we feel it's weird to act like they are.)

At the end of the grand march, everyone will be in the front, facing the stage. Someone should announce the names of graduates (either Class Coordinator or delegate to another officer). They each come up, get graduation packet, and are congratulated by a receiving line of Class Coordinator, Ted, Phil, and optionally other officers/PE coordinator/Class assistant. 

After Graduation

Sample email

Sample text of post graduation email:

Hi,
You've recently been added to the tech-squares announcement mailing list, and should have gotten
the club announcement email about the dance tomorrow (if you didn't or want to receive those emails
at a different address, let me know).
If you are interested in joining any of our other mailing lists, the links are below.
Monday rounds class: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tech-squares-monday-rounds-class Andy recently
started teaching a rounds class on Monday nights. We will be starting a new rhythm (waltz) in early January -- no
prior dance experience needed, so if you're interesting in trying rounds, this is a great place to start.
Discussion: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tech-squares-discuss
(for discussing club policies, hack tips, etc.)
Social: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tech-squares-social
(for mentioning social things other squares members might be interested in)
Also, there's a survey about your experience in the Tech Squares class. Please fill it out, it helps us make the class better in the future.
As a reminder, Tech Squares has a Safer Dances Policy. Our current Safer Dances Coordinators are Alex Dehnert and Ginda Fisher (safer-squares@mit.edu).
Paying and Gate: 
You may have noticed that the weekly announcement mentioned subscription prices. As a club member, you have 2 options
for paying for dances -- you can either pay for dances individually or you can buy quarterly subscriptions, which mean you
don't have to worry about paying each week, and may give you a discount. (MIT students automatically get free subscriptions).
Regardless of whether you need to pay or not, please check in with gate (the person just inside the door).
I've also attached a PDF of the papers in the graduation folder, in case you prefer an electronic copy.
If you have any questions or concerns about Tech Squares or (calls or square dancing generally), I and the rest of the officers are here as resources.
Happy Dancing!
-Veronica
Tech Squares President

Updating roster

 SquaresDB accepts a spreadsheet import. You can see a sample spreadsheet to crib from. It expects the following columns:

Export the spreadsheet as a CSV file.

Log in to SquaresDB (choose the login dropdown at the top right, and choose either "MIT" or "Google"). If you haven't gotten your account set up before, you'll need to get a SquaresDB maintainer to give you permissions (if you're not sure, visit the import page – if it asks you to log in again, you need account permissions). Once you're logged in, go to the class import page, filling out the form as:

If you have issues, contact a SquaresDB maintainer.

https://web.mit.edu/directory/